1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers
> 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river
estuaries.
2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes
(e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

LaonLaon (French pronunciation: ​[lɑ̃]) is the capital city of
the
AisneAisne department in Hauts-de-France, northern France. As of
2012[update] its population is 25,317.

History[edit]
Early history[edit]
The holy district of Laon, which rises a hundred metres above the
otherwise flat
PicardyPicardy plain,[1] has always held strategic importance.
In the time of
Julius CaesarJulius Caesar there was a Gallic village named Bibrax
where the Remis (inhabitants of the country round Reims) had to meet
the onset of the confederated Belgae.[2] Whatever may have been the
precise locality of that battlefield,
LaonLaon was fortified by the
Romans, and successively checked the invasions of the Franks,
Burgundians, Vandals,
AlansAlans and Huns. At that time it was known as
Alaudanum or Lugdunum Clavatum.
Archbishop Remigius of Reims, who baptised Clovis, was born in the
Laonnais, and it was he who, at the end of the fifth century,
instituted the bishopric of Laon. Thenceforward
LaonLaon was one of the
principal towns of the kingdom of the Franks, and the possession of it
was often disputed.
Charles the BaldCharles the Bald had enriched its church with the
gift of very numerous domains. In about 847 the Irish philosopher John
Scotus Eriugena appeared at the court of Charles the Bald, and was
appointed head of the palace school. Eriugena spent the rest of his
days in France, probably at
ParisParis and Laon.[3]
After the fall of the Carolingians,
LaonLaon took the part of Charles of
Lorraine, their heir, and
Hugh CapetHugh Capet only succeeded in making himself
master of the town by the connivance of the bishop, who, in return for
this service, was made second ecclesiastical peer of the kingdom.
Early in the twelfth century the communes of
FranceFrance set about
emancipating themselves, and the history of the commune of
LaonLaon is one
of the richest and most varied. Anselm of Laon's school for theology
and exegesis rapidly became the most famous in Europe. The citizens
had profited by a temporary absence of Bishop Gaudry to secure from
his representatives a communal charter, but he, on his return,
purchased from the king of
FranceFrance the revocation of this document, and
recommenced his oppressions. The consequence was a revolt, in which
the episcopal palace was burnt and the bishop and several of his
partisans were put to death on 25 April 1112. The fire spread to the
cathedral, and reduced it to ashes. Uneasy at the result of their
victory, the rioters went into hiding outside the town, which was anew
pillaged by the people of the neighbourhood, eager to avenge the death
of their bishop.
The king alternately intervened in favour of the bishop and of the
inhabitants till 1239. After that date the liberties of
LaonLaon were no
more contested till 1331, when the commune was abolished. During the
Hundred Years' WarHundred Years' War it was attacked and taken by the Burgundians, who
gave it up to the English, to be retaken by Charles VII after his
coronation. Under the League,
LaonLaon took the part of the Leaguers, and
was taken by Henry IV.
Modern history[edit]
At the Revolution (1789)
LaonLaon permanently lost its rank as a
bishopric. During the campaign of 1814, Napoleon tried in vain to
dislodge Blücher and Bülow from it in the Battle of Laon.[4]
In 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War, an engineer blew up the
powder magazine of the citadel at the moment when the German troops
were entering the town. Many lives were lost; and the cathedral and
the old episcopal palace were damaged. It surrendered to a German
force on 9 September 1870.[4]
In the fall of 1914, during World War I, German forces captured the
town and held it until the Allied offensive in the summer of 1918.[4]
Geography[edit]
Located in the middle of Aisne,
LaonLaon borders (from the north,
clockwise) with the municipalities of Aulnois-sous-Laon,
Barenton-Bugny, Chambry, Athies-sous-Laon, Bruyères-et-Montbérault,
Vorges, Presles-et-Thierny, Chivy-lès-Étouvelles, Clacy-et-Thierret,
Molinchart, Cerny-lès-Bucy, and Besny-et-Loizy.[5] It is 55 km
(34 mi) from Reims, 131 km (81 mi) from Amiens, and
138 km (86 mi) from Paris.
Population[edit]

The city contains numerous medieval buildings, including the cathedral
Notre-Dame of Laon, dating mostly from the 12th and 13th centuries.
The chapter-house and the cloister contain specimens of early 13th
century architecture. The old episcopal palace, contiguous to the
cathedral, is now used as a court-house. The front, flanked by
turrets, is pierced by large pointed windows. There is also a Gothic
cloister and an old chapel of two storeys, of a date anterior to the
cathedral.
The church of St Martin dates from the middle of the 12th century. The
old abbey buildings of the same foundation are now used as the
hospital. The museum of
LaonLaon had collections of sculpture and
painting. In its garden there is a chapel of the Templars belonging to
the 12th century.
One of the oldest churches in the city is St John the Baptist, in the
nearby neighborhood of Vaux-sous-Laon, which dates from the 11th
through 13th centuries and is built in a mixture of Romanesque and
Gothic styles.
Transportation[edit]

Until August 2016, the town had among the only fully automated
municipal cable car system in the world, called the Poma 2000. It
linked the upper town (the historical centre, located on a plateau)
with the lower town, had three stations and ran on rubber tyres. In
contrast, the
San Francisco cable car systemSan Francisco cable car system is manually operated, and
most other automated cable car systems have restricted operations
within airports and hospitals, though another automated cable car
called the
MinimetròMinimetrò may be found in Perugia.
The town's transport company TUL (Transports Urbains Laonnois)[6]
operates also the local bus routes[7]

International relations[edit]
See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in France
LaonLaon is twinned with: